July 21, 2004 – Athens, AL

1. Meeting Called to Order – 2:05 PM President Roger Humphrey

2. Welcome – Members and attendees present;

· Roger Humphrey

· Bill Brodeur

· Roger Wilson

· Harold Parker

· Pat Hall

· Richard Holt

· Ray Preston

3. Review and approval of April 21, 2004 Executive Committee Minutes No discussion

· Motion to approve – Richard Holt

· Second – Bill Brodeur

· Motion Carried without discussion

4. Financial Report – Richard Holt

Bill Brodeur reported the Conference Fund would make a deposit into the main

Chapter account when he has completed paying the first year membership fees to the Alabama 911 Association for NENA members who join the AL 911 Association. Richard Holt reported the main chapter account has a balance of $15,418.54 before any deposits from the Conference account.

· Motion to approve – Harold Parker

· Second – Pat Hall

· Motion carried

5. Legislative Overview and Discussion – Roger Wilson reported everything is on hold. Additional discussions have been held with the CLEC’s but until there is a firm definition of an “access line”, they are reluctant to change any existing policies regarding the E911 surcharge collection. The Attorney General’s office has indicated the PSC is within it’s limits if they determine the definition of an “access line” but the PSC feels that is a legislative responsibility. The VoIP issue is also at the Attorney General’s office now for a determination if VoIP should be allowed in Alabama only if they do not claim to offer Enhanced 911 service. The FCC has taken a “hands-off” approach to regulating VoIP in any manner, and the Alabama PSC has taken the same position to date. Richard Holt stated there are at least 3 issues involving VoIP. These issues include: Collecting an E911 fee from VoIP subscribers, answering calls from VoIP providers, and the amount and quality of data delivered to E911 PSAP’s from VoIP providers. Ray Preston mentioned the recent Federal Government decision to not appeal the ruling that basically eliminates the UNE-P type of service offered by CLEC’s. Pat Hall asked if Roger Wilson had officially requested an Attorney General’s Opinion or ruling if VoIP could be refused by E911 agencies. Roger Wilson replied there had not been an official request for an opinion, but that the Attorney General’s office was evaluating and investigating the VoIP issue. Richard Holt stated he preferred VoIP calls be “choked” by law, and not by the E911 centers local decisions. Roger Humphrey reported his board’s attorney was concerned that the Alabama ECD’s could be forced to assume some degree of liability from VoIP calls due to the National NENA position to allow VoIP calls to be delivered to 7-digit administrative lines. The Cullman Board attorney further advised the Cullman County E911 district resign from NENA and to also withdraw from the national PSAP registry due to this concern of liability.

6. Managerial Training Report – Roger Humphrey reported AL-NENA had conducted one class in 2004 in Montgomery, AL. The class was well attended. There are no further classes currently scheduled in 2004, but may still be at a later date.

7. Minimum Dispatch Standards Report – Pat Hall reported no activity due to lack of any funding mechanism.

8. Annual Conference Report – Bill Brodeur reported all but 1 booth has been “sold” in the vendor hall for the 2004 conference. Rep Robert Aderholt has agreed to be the speaker at the 2004 conference opening session. Jo Tranter is investigating the possibility of having a comedian do the closing session. No education classes will be held during the vendor hall hours. Bill Brodeur stated he would not serve next year as conference chairman. He mentioned the County Commission Association has offered to completely handle the annual conference for a set fee, with any revenue above that fee to go the County Commission Association. Even if that were done, AL NENA would still be responsible for producing the educational sessions. Bill recommended we continue to produce the annual conference ourselves. Roger Humphrey asked if anyone had a recommendation for a conference chair for 2005. He then suggested that Jo Tranter would be a good person if she were allowed to do so by her employer. Pat Hall stated she could possibly handle registration. Roger Wilson agreed to handle the vendor hall. We expect Baldwin County E911 to continue to host the shrimp boil. No recommendation for the education session chairman was provided. Harold Parker asked if there is a “flow” of the events in planning a conference. Bill Brodeur stated there was, and that the biggest job was balancing the books. Bill Brodeur then agreed to consider continuing as conference chairman if someone else would handle the money, or that the banking account be moved to a bank that has branches pretty much statewide.

5-Minute Health Break

9. Status of 501c3 Application – Roger Humphrey reported the IRS approved the chapter application for 501c3 tax-exempt status. Richard Holt stated the required form 990 had been filed, but in the future, must be filed annually. Richard also stated the accountant fee for processing the 501c3 project had been paid. This is a closed item.

10. LATA Reports – Roger Humphrey requested each LATA VP look closely at the provided NENA membership list and get them cleaned up to be submitted back to national NENA. This list, when complete, will be used for the National NENA reaccomplishment of the election that was rejected as flawed. Roger Humphrey also reported National NENA Director Terry Peters had resigned and Dr. Bob Cobb was serving as interim director.

· Birmingham – Harold Parker reported he has contacted all of the Jefferson County ECD’s attempting to get more involvement in NENA activities. Roger Humphrey commended Harold for the outstanding job he was doing. Harold reported he had requested $250,000 be applied to GIS for E911 from the Jefferson County Commission.

· Huntsville – Richard Holt, no report

· Mobile – George Williams absent, no report

· Montgomery – Pat Hall, no report

11. Old Business

A. Richard Holt reported he had gotten all ECD’s who regularly use over $50.00 per month in Language Line services to establish their own individual account.

B. Roger Humphrey discussed the request from the April chapter meeting to get Ray Preston to draft a resolution to National NENA expressing the Alabama NENA Chapter displeasure in the recent NENA policy of assessing a $100.00 “surcharge” on NENA event attendees who do not lodge at “official” conference hotels. The draft resolution will be presented to the membership at the July 22, 2004 meeting for review and approval.

12. New Business

A. Roger Wilson reported the requests for spending approval have gone from Alabama Homeland Defense to the Federal agencies and are awaiting approval

B. Roger Wilson reported the nominating committee would recommend the following:

i. President – Bill Brodeur

ii. Past President – Roger Humphrey

iii. Huntsville LATA VP – Larry Duncan

iv. Montgomery LATA VP – Pat Hall will serve if no other nominations are offered during the chapter meeting.

If there are no other nominees, these can be appointed by acclamation, contingent upon receipt of a letter from the nominee’s Board authorizing the member to serve.

C. Roger Humphrey reported the Alabama PSC had not provided a new “access line” definition.

D. Bill Brodeur reported the Alabama CMRS Board had met on July 20, 2004 and terminated the contract of accountant Lynn Boucher effective 30 days from that date. Ms. Boucher requested the effective date be changed to July 20, 2004. The CMRS Board agreed. An interim accountant will be used until the accounting work for the CMRS Board can be rebid.

E. Richard Holt reported that Limestone County E911 would pay for the lunch following the Chapter meeting on July 22, 2004. He also mentioned the Alabama Veteran’s Museum, which was the location of the July 21, 2004 Executive Committee meeting and the July 22, 2004 Chapter meeting, accepted donations. Due to the fact that AL NENA will not need to pay for lunch, a motion was made to donate $100.00 from the Chapter account to the Alabama Veteran’s Museum.

i. Motion – Roger Wilson

ii. Second – Harold Parker

iii. Motion Carried

13. Next Executive Committee meeting date established at a time to be determined during the Annual Conference in October 2004. Motion to adjourn.

Motion – Richard Holt

Second – Pat Hall

Motion Carried